Harbhajan Singh 'surprised' to see THIS 'pure match winner' snubbed from India's ODI World Cup squad

On Tuesday (September 5), Team India announced a strong 15-man squad for the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup, which will be held in India starting on October 5. While India retained the majority of their players from the Asia Cup squad, they left out Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma whereas Sanju Samson -- who is the sole travelling reserve -- also failed to make the cut. Among the notable omissions Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, R Ashwin and Washington Sundar.

After BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar named India's final 15, in the presence of Indian captain Rohit Sharma during a presser in Sri Lanka, former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took to his official account on X, formerly known as Twitter, and shared his reaction.

"Surprised not to see Yuzvendra Chahal in the World Cup squad for Team India. pure Match winner," Harbhajan said.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Chahal, a veteran of 121 wickets in 72 ODIs, was part of India's 2019 ODI World Cup squad where they bowed out in the semi-finals. In 2023, heplayed only two ODIs. Interestingly, India have only one specialist spinner in their final 15 in the form of Kuldeep Yadav. As all teams can make changes to their squad until September 28, it will be interesting to see if a late twist is in store for Chahal.

Meanwhile, Rohit told reporters, "There are no surprises and you can get only 15 in. Some of the guys will be disappointed. I have gone through it and I know how it feels. We have good all-round options and this is best 15 we could get."

"I have not thought about plans yet. Problem of plenty is a good problem to have. We have to see who is in form and who our opposition is. We need to see what the best possible combination could be. If someone misses out, then so be it. This keeps happening. You have to make tough calls for the team," Hitman further added.

At present, India are gearing up for their Super Four face-off versus arch-rivals Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup. They will host Australia in three ODIs later this month before stepping on to the ODI World Cup. The mega event kicks off on October 05 with defending champions England taking on New Zealand in Ahmedabad whereas Rohit & Co. will lock horns with Australia in their tournament-opener on October 08 in Chennai.

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.